In today's Exponential Investor...- I called it in 2019
- And was right in 2021
- Buying bitcoin in ten minutes
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On 9 January 2019 I wrote a piece for
Capital & Conflict, one of our other daily e-letters we publish here at Southbank Investment Research. It was before my time as your lead editor here at
Exponential Investor.
The piece was called "Kill dad, chop up body" – you can find that original piece
here.
Then on 28 September 2020 I wrote a follow-up to that piece here in
Exponential Investor. You can find that
here.
The core message of both was a simple one. The big streaming giants, more specifically Netflix, were going to get into immersive gaming. They were going to become huge video game companies.
I wrote this first in early 2019 because I'd watched… or played… the show
Bandersnatch on Netflix.
What made this different from any other show (or game) is it was a "choose your own adventure" style show. Along certain points in the show, as the viewer, you got to choose what would happen next.
Your choices would take you along a decision tree affecting the rest of the show. There were a huge number of combinations and endings based on the decisions you made.
It was, in my view, really a game more than a show. It was immersive, interactive and frankly,
amazing!
I followed up on that piece in 2020 because I had to admit I'd got my earlier article wrong. It wasn't Netflix that was getting big into gaming, it was Amazon. Amazon had just launched its "Luna" game streaming service and it seems it is making a run at the global video game market.
For me it makes perfect sense for these companies to get into gaming. It's an industry with huge growth potential, and with their massive subscriber networks, they can reach hundreds of millions of potential customers instantly.
It also means they can extract more revenue per user if they can shift them all from just streaming into gaming as well.
Maybe it's a reflection of their struggles in the streaming market now. Or maybe it was an inevitable outcome from the outset.
I tend to think the latter in this case.
And I'm writing about all this again today because now I get to admit that perhaps I was right all along about Netflix.
It seems Netflix is again on the hunt to expand into gaming. Or as the reports are suggesting, "
interactive entertainment".
Netflix is advertising for an executive to lead a potential video game division. Now I will say that in 2019 the company had just brought on an executive from the video game world.
I would suspect Netflix has been eyeing up this market for a few years now. And its slow approach has meant Amazon, Apple and Google have all jumped on the streaming game bandwagon.
Not to forget the likes of Sony (PlayStation), Microsoft (Xbox) and Nintendo all have a massive hold over global gaming. Competition is fierce. However, if Netflix can deliver a new form of gaming – an immersive, interactive… almost real-world simulation gaming – it would have something different and unique.
My take is Netflix will head in this direction. I've expected this for a few years now, and it looks like it's coming to fruition. If Netflix does head down this path, and importantly can deliver the quality gaming content (which is crucial to a successful gaming business), then Netflix, even at the size it is, may be one to keep a very close eye on in the near future.
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The hard part of crypto made easy
It's fair to say that over the weekend the crypto market was quite horrible.
Actually, over the last few weeks it's been down, down and a little more down.
That means if you're new to this space and just getting into it, then you've been hit with your first big correction.
Well done. You made it.
However, for a lot of people there's still a lot of things about this market that scare them. Like 40% falls in a matter of days…
The other thing I hear a lot is that it's really difficult to just buy something as simple as bitcoin. And I'll agree, it can be very challenging when you're just starting out.
However, I guarantee you that it's easier today than it was ten years ago!
The good thing is it's also getting easier and easier.
For example, last week I tested out a new wallet from British fintech
Mode Global Holdings (LSE:MODE). I'd heard about its Mode app, and thought I'd see how far along crypto wallets had become.
So I downloaded the app, installed it and set up an account.
I verified my ID, I then deposited money into my Mode app wallet. It was here that things became very easy. You see, to make the deposit, it linked directly to my bank account app. That automatically connected me, I verified my biometrics on my phone with my bank app, and voila, the deposit information was right there for me to approve.
I approved it, and then the GBP was instantly in my wallet account. From there it was a simple tap-to-buy process for buying some bitcoin.
All up from not even having installed the app through to holding bitcoin in my wallet, I would say the process took about ten minutes.
Ten minutes to set up and install a wallet, verify ID, transfer funds and buy bitcoin.
That's easy. That's easier than setting up an ISA, a SIPP or a stocks and shares trading account. It's easier than setting up a bank account. In fact, dare I say it's the easiest account I've ever had to set up in finance, ever.
That's the speed at which crypto is evolving, and it reinforces my view that we're right at the beginning of a crypto revolution that is set to blow the doors off the traditional financial system.
Oh and just one more thing. I've just put together some new research about a catalyst moment coming as soon as June that could be the springboard to take bitcoin, and crypto to the stratosphere.
It's going live this Thursday at precisely 2pm. You better check it out, so
grab your viewing pass here.
Sam Volkering
Editor,
Exponential Investor
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